Nakasha Hatake - The Blood Moon
by That Damn Kennedy Kid
Summary: It was hard to be alone so long. Idly she wondered at age 85, overlooking the field of headstones of dead friends and a lover, if it was meant to be this way. After all the times she'd denied fate and cheated death, she was sure it would come for her. She never expected to be the last one, or for fate to take recompense in her family. Starting with her father, Kakashi.
1. Innocence of the Soul

**A/N: I want everyone who plans on reading this through to know that there are some very sensitive themes ahead. These include attempted RAPE, MISOGYNY, attempted MURDER, STALKING, DARK OBSESSION and YANDERE actions. You have been warned.**

* * *

To anyone that didn't know Kakashi Hatake, one would think he was waiting, cool as cucumbers and calmer than a creek. It was not the case.

A certain Might Guy watched his eternal rival with riveted attention. Since Tsunade had suggested it, Guy knew that it hadn't left Kakashi's mind.

A surrogate mother.

Too afraid to take a permanent lover and by this point wholly unwilling to find and unwanting of an eternal mate, the suggestion the previous Hokage had hinted at had torn the collected man to bits on the inside.

Guy knew his best friend craved company. However, it wasn't a taking kind of relationship he wanted, but a needed kind.

Kakashi Hatake wanted a baby. He had gone through many lengths and spared no expense in finding a surrogate mother who would give birth to his heir or heiress. The woman he had sought and chosen was a woman of natural pale complexion, much like he himself, but with luscious blue eyes and hair that was so darkly red that it was black. She was a beautiful woman and it had taken copious amounts of money and free care and lodging for her to agree. Without question, Kakashi had agreed and signed off on the paperwork. Even if this woman would want the baby after she had it, she would have no legal right to it. It was a Hatake, and with a Hatake it would stay. Guy knew Kakashi would die before he saw that soon-to-be little one taken from him.

That lead them to where they were now.

Kakashi didn't look nervous, no. But he was.

"Guy?"

"What is it, Kakashi?"

"What do you think it'll be? Boy or girl?"

Guy grinned. "With your luck? A spunky little girl."

The Hatake looked at the hospital room's door wistfully. "What do you think she'll look like?"

"Probably a lot like you, my Eternal Rival." Guy smiled brightly, wrapping an arm around his tense friend.

"You're worrying for nothing." Tenzou said from Kakashi's other side. "Boy, girl, light or dark. They'll be yours and that's all that matters."

"Don't tell me I missed it!"

Naruto burst through the door at the end of the hall, speeding up to them.

Tsunade came out of the room then. In a flash, Kakashi was on his feet, his Sharingan alight. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." The older woman said, her grin brightening the room. In her arms was a baby swaddled in a plushy pink blanket. "Congratulations, Kakashi. You're now the father of a brilliant baby girl."

With shaking arms and no small amount of reverence, Kakashi took the small thing in his arms. The pink monstrosity shifted, revealing a little face that had wiry white hair splayed across its head. The little thing squirmed, onyx eyes opening to stare up at her father, hands worming out of the blanket to grasp at his fingers.

"She's beautiful." Naruto smiled over his sensei's shoulder, happy for the elder man. Guy made kissy faces over his other shoulder and Tenzou just looked at her, stunned and happy.

"Hello, Nakasha." Kakashi said at last, dropping the mask to kiss his daughter. "I've been waiting for you."

{|}

Kakashi, for all of the solo work he'd returned to in ANBU since his team's maturity, had more money than he knew what to do with. Once Nakasha arrived, however, Kakashi disappeared off the roster.

He'd taken indefinite leave for raise his daughter properly until she could function mostly on her own inside of Konoha without help.

As it was, he was now browsing a shopping district, looking for bananas. He wanted to liquify them so that Nakasha could try them. She'd loved every food so far, so he wasn't too concerned about her disapproving of the fruit.

"Hey, Kakashi. I saw you were taken off of the roster. What gives?"

The Copy Nin looked up, finding a normal-looking woman standing next to him. "Anita, what a pleasure. I haven't seen you since I hired the surrogate."

"Surrogate?"

"Tenzou never told you?" He asked, eyebrow raised. "Strange. Yes, I hired a surrogate mother for my baby girl."

"Has she had the baby yet?"

Kakashi twisted a little more, showing off his eight-month old girl. She laughed loudly and reached out to the woman. "Hello!"

"Wow, she can speak already?" Anita lowered herself to the baby girl's level and grinned brightly. "Hello to you too, sweetheart. What's your name?"

"Na-ka-sha." She replied slowly, but smiled once she came up with the answers. "You, Miss?"

"Kakashi, I'd have never thought you capable of manners." The ANBU teased. He shrugged, but smiled.

"Who'd have thought it."

"Your name now, please." Nakasha called the attention back to her. "Name."

"Anita. I'm Tenzou's lover."

"Unky Tenzou?" The little thing squealed in delight. "I love Unky Tenzou!"

"She does adore the man." Kakashi agreed, propping his daughter up on his hip. "More than me sometimes."

Nakasha looked horrified. "No! No! I love you dis much!" The little thing flung open her arms. "I jus' love Unky Tenzou too."

Kakashi pouted at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" She hugged him as tightly as she could, which was a considerable amount of pressure, and kissed his clothes. "I love you most."

"That's cute." Anita cooed. "I came to beat some sense back into you and tell you that your team is missing you, but I see you're occupied."

"I'll swing by tomorrow and introduce her." He pet his baby girl's hair. "See ya 'round."

Anita smiled and left, throwing one last glance over her shoulder to see Kakashi place a small kiss on his daughter's lips. She squealed, laughing happily and kissing him back. Tenzou had been worried. She would lay his fears to rest.

{|}

Kakashi's team applauded when Nakasha waddled unsteadily in their direction.

"I'm walking!" The little girl cried out in joy, right before she set to topple. Guy caught her hand, helping her stay upright. Tenzou cooed at her, unable to express his want of a little one to match. Even as Anita smiled beside him, he knew it wasn't an option. According to what he'd been able to drag out of her, she'd already tried to have a baby with a previous lover. It had turned out disastrously and the woman was too terrified to try again.

"Hello, Unky Tenzou!" Nakasha grinned, waddling over to him and falling onto his lap with a startled giggle. "You caught me!"

"I did?" He laughed, tickling her. Like Kakashi, she responded with aggressive passion. Her chortles and ecstatic and fervent giggling echoed in the small bunk room, making all of the ANBU nin smile affectionately.

"She's beautiful." Guy said softly. Since her birth, Guy had been assigned half of the missions that Kakashi normally took and had been gone a considerable amount of time with just enough in Konoha to report and crash before starting all over again.

"Thank you." It didn't take a genius to figure out that Kakashi was exorbitantly proud of his little one. He would do anything for her, and it was no mystery. "I think I'm going to start her training when she's four."

"Yeah?" Guy looked at his friend. "Isn't that a little soon?"

"Perhaps, but I'd rather she be strong, even if she decides she doesn't want to be a ninja." Kakashi looked to the clock on the wall. "Sorry to break up the fun, guys, but I need to take her home to feed her."

"Do you have to?" Tenzou pouted.

Kakashi laughed. "You're almost as bad as her."

Tenzou made puppy-dog faces at Kakashi even after the man left the room. "I know you can feel them!"

"I can!" Kakashi called back right before the door to the main building closed. "But I'm not bringing her back today!"

* * *

**A/N: I would like to point out a few things for the people who'll be reading this. At the time of writing, many of the recent revelations in the Naruto manga weren't out yet. So, Kakashi still has his Sharingan and Naruto's eye-regrowing-power-thingy doesn't exist in here. **


	2. Call It Talent

"Kakashi-sensei?"

A little one appeared around the corner, white hair glowing red in the evening sunset. It sparkled off the ends like blood. "Naruto-san!"

The tall blonde man knelt down with a blinding grin. "Hey there, Nakasha! Where's your daddy?"

"He's in the kitchen. I'll go get him!" With that, the Hatake girl disappeared into the back of the house. Kakashi appeared a moment later, pulling his mask up over his nose.

"Naruto? What can I do for you?"

At this, the man got sheepish. "Tsunade told me that she's been to the Feudal Lord and they came to a decision on her successor."

"Oh? Do you want to stay for dinner and tell me? I'm making ramen."

"Sure!" He was sick of eating alone anyways. Even screwing around with Sasuke didn't cut it anymore. Since his return, however, Sasuke had been much more indulgent with Naruto and Sakura. Sai, even, had gotten a place in the Uchiha's heart.

"So? What did Tsunade tell you?" Kakashi walked back to the stove as Nakasha pulled out a setting for him, wobbling over and placing it just so.

Naruto took a deep breath. "They chose me."

"Really?"

"Yay!" Nakasha threw her arms around her father's student. She liked Naruto probably the most. He was funny and played with her unlike most of the other adults (which excluded her father, Uncle Tenzou (who had a weakness when it came to her) and Guy (who had never really grown up)). "I'm so happy for you!"

Kakashi looked down at the boiling grease before him. "Maybe I should take you out for ramen instead."

"I've never had your cooking, sensei. That's enough of a treat." Naruto winked down at the little white-haired girl he'd hoisted into his lap. She laughed and adjusted her jumper. "How old are you now, Nakasha?"

"I turn four next week! On the twentieth!"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and a grin spread across his lips. "Looks like we're going to have to share your special day. I get inaugerated that day."

Kakashi sighed. "It looks like I owe you both a dinner date. My poor wallet."

{|}

They were using the ANBU training grounds as his team watched. Guy, Anita and Tenzou looked on as Kakashi danced around Nakasha's kunai.

"Perhaps he was right." Guy murmured.

"About what?" Anita whispered back, awed to see the two Hatake fight. Despite not using chakra only a month and a half into the training, Nakasha was fluent in all of the blades and techniques. She thrived on them and even when she was panting in exertion and dead on her feet, she still fought doggedly.

"I thought training her at four would be too much, considering how small she is. Kakashi disagreed. It seems my Eternal Rival was correct once again."

"Well, she certainly seems to take after him." The woman answered.

Kakashi deflected a shuriken and jumped over the swipe of her legs, kicking out as he landed. She slipped underneath him and caught him in the elbow with her own. Momentarily thrown off balance, she got in a quick, powerful strike to his solar plexus. Never one to be outdone, but extremely winded, Kakashi sprung back on his hands, gaining distance to give himself time to recover. His daughter would have none of it, however, quickly forming a set of handsigns. Due to the overextension, Kakashi let himself stumble, back pressing against one of the few remaining trees.

"Nakasha, no!" Tenzou cried.

Before Kakashi even knew what was happening, he felt electricity tingle along his skin. Opening his eye, he was face to face with Nakasha, who had her Chidori fist buried next to his head in the tree. She gave him a cheeky smile.

"I win."

Anita, Guy and Tenzou stared in horror and shock. She'd . . . faked him out?! With a Chidori?!

Tenzou passed out. Both Anita and Guy were too paralyzed to help him, staring as lightning sparked on Nakasha's hand as she withdrew it, making it easier. She pulled her father back to his feet, her smile faltering when he didn't return it.

"What's wrong?"

"Where were you aiming?"

She frowned. "Your heart."

"Why did that change?"

"I realized I couldn't hit you. So, I changed aim to beside your head, knowing that I would make contact with the tree. Did I do something wrong?"

Kakashi knelt down beside her, pulling up his hitai-ite. As per the custom, her small hand came up to trace the scar over his eye, then around the Sharingan. "Do you remember me telling you about Rin?"

She nodded mutely.

"Rin was killed by me. I put my Chidori through her chest and killed her."

"I'm sorry, Dad."

Kakashi shook his head. "It was a long time ago. I'm proud of you."

Her silver brows furrowed. "What does you being proud of me have to do with Rin?"

"I wasn't able to stop myself from killing her. I should have been. You were able to stop yourself from killing me and that gives me more comfort than you'll ever understand. You'll never do what I did."

Her tiny hands cupped his face and brought his eyes back up to meet hers. It was like staring at himself in the mirror. "You shouldn't keep that blame. Rin is as much at fault as you for not knowing where you were."

"Thank you." Kakashi whispered back, pulling Nakasha against him.


	3. Night Terror

"Dad?"

Kakashi looked over at his daughter from the stove. "Yeah, sweetheart?"

"You're leaving tomorrow to go back to the ANBU, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Taio's an Earth affinity, but he didn't know. Could I take some of your scrolls and teach him?"

Kakashi blinked, surprised. "Sure."

"Thank you!" She ran over and hugged him.

{|}

The moon twinkled in the night sky. Its brilliant luminescence washed over the sleeping world and into the bedroom of Nakasha Hatake. At the doorway to said room lingered the Copy Nin, simply watching the girl sleep. Her face was angelic, her pale skin and silvery white hair hazing together in their borrowed radiance. Above her head rested her graduation photo and a photo of her team.

_I'm going to miss you._

He stared on, deep into the night, wishing that he didn't have to go back to work. His baby had become his world over the last six years and despite the fact that he hadn't spent every waking moment with her, he was always nearby. His mission tomorrow would lead him into the Hidden Stone, which was farther away than he wanted to be.

_I don't want to leave you._

{|}

Anita looked around. "Where's Nakasha? I thought for sure she would be there to see us off."

Kakashi shook his head silently. Tenzou's jaw fell open.

"You didn't even tell her you were leaving!"

"I told her that I had a mission today, but I didn't wake her up to say goodbye, no."

The moon still illuminated the night sky with a hint of a red dawn overcoming the horizon.

"We better make a pit stop then at Kakashi's to tell that sweet little girl that we're off." Guy said, as if the idea was the most natural in the world.

"No. She's sleeping." Kakashi protested. "We leave her."

"Jerk!"

The four ANBU spun around. Nakasha nearly tackled Kakashi to the ground with the force of her hug. She had on her gear, albeit messily. Her hitai-ite was partially covering her left eye and her neck material was caught around her chin.

Kakashi, however, was mesmerized. In the faint, distant light of the dawn, Nakasha's hair was no longer a gleaming silver, as it was at night, or a dull white, like it was in the day. No, now it was an inky red, like blood. It looked like the tips of her hair had been soaked in blood.

She adjusted herself in his arms, looking more like herself than her father. Then, she pouted.

"Didn't even bother to wake me up! Jerk. This is your first mission since I was born and you'd just vanish on me? What if I woke up scared only to find that you're not there? What do I do when I don't even know you've left yet?" The sass in her voice calmed and took on a breathy, whisper-like tone. "What if the fear wouldn't go away?"

Kakashi crushed the girl to his chest. "I'm sorry, baby. Never again, okay? Here." The Copy Nin pulled out a ring of white gold with silver characters etched into it.

She took it curiously, slipping it onto her finger and marvelling at its dull red gleam. "Whose was it?"

"I got it as a gift from an old teammate of mine." He smiled at his daughter.

"Who was it?"

"You wouldn't know him." Kakashi smiled again and put her down. "Say goodbye to the others because we have to go soon. Hokage's orders."

"I'm staying home alone, right?"

"Yes. I've already talked to Shikamaru and you go to him or Naruto if you have any problems. That includes ones with Daimo."

"Okay Dad. I'll be good." She scampered over and hugged the other ANBU in his team, kissing Tenzou's cheek swiftly as she made her way back to her father. "Maa, you be good too. I don't wanna have to break you out of prison."

"Ne, I will be." He smiled at her. "Go back home and get some rest before training begins. We can't have you follow us to the gates, no matter how much I'd like you to."

"Bye guys!" Nakasha gave them one last wave and a smile before vanishing into the reddening moon.

{|}

It was one in the morning and after a long, tiring day with his genin, Shikamaru was dead on his feet. He groaned to himself when a soft, shy knock on his door stopped him from falling into bed like he'd planned.

Something in him, however, told him to answer the door instead of ignore it, like he normally would have.

_"She's prone to night terrors." Kakashi had explained._

The Nara man trudged over to his front door and unlocked it.

"I think it might have to do with me. I never cover my eye around her and I think my Sharingan might be bleeding into her subconscious a little at a time."

Before him, soaked to the bone in the pouring rains that had decided to come that night, was a shivering little Nakasha Hatake. She was only wearing a small pair of shorts and her father's shirt with a small ring. Lightning struck and she jumped, curling in on herself.

"S-S-S-Sh-Shikamaru-s-sensei?" She whispered, her voice cowed with fear.

Without a second thought, he swept her up into his arms, bringing her to his bathroom and filling the small tub. He helped her out of her clingy clothes and lowered her ghostly-chilled body into the steaming water. She yelped at the sudden sting of the heat, but melted into it after she thawed. Shirtless and in his sleeping pants, Shikamaru sat on the edge of the tub stroking her hair until she calmed. She'd fallen asleep not too soon after she stopped shaking completely.

Gently, Shikamaru pulled her out of the tub, draining it, then drying her. He found an old shirt of his own and bundled her in it. He threw her clothes into the dryer with his and let the machine run.

"What happened to you?" He asked softly, laying down next to the little girl. "They must have been bad for you to come here in this weather."

She cuddled the hand with the ring closer to herself and snuggled further into the baggy cloth of the shirt she was in.

"You're so small for a girl your age." He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head there. "Please be okay."

{|}

Nakasha awoke to sunlight in her eyes. She grunted and tried to roll over only to be blocked by a solid wall of muscle. She looked up to see her sensei's sleeping face over hers.

She didn't even remember anything since she went to bed. She recalled the faint rumblings of thunder . . . but that was it. Nothing that would have made her act this way. Kakashi had said she could go to Shikamaru whenever she needed something, so she'll probably remember later what it was.

For now, she turned to face her sensei's chest and just let his warmth seep into her body.

{|}

"No fair! Now Shikamaru-sensei is playing favourites!" Daimo shouted, complaining a lot louder than Taio wanted him to.

"No, that's not it." Taio said back, voice low and eyes focused. "Something happened last night. Something bad."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"See the way Shikamaru-sensei looks at her? He's concerned about something to do with her. Something's not right."

"Tch. Who cares?" The taller boy snapped back. "If she's so ready, then why should he be worried? She's a brat and that's all it is. She's an only child with one parent who dotes on her."

Taio glared. "If anyone's a brat, it's you."

"Shut up! You get all the attention too!"

"Maybe if you stopped being a child about everything and grow up a little you'll finally be our calibre!" Taio screamed, his voice echoing across the training grounds and out into the forests.

"You pampered little shit!" Daimo screeched, body tensing.

Like lightning, as poetic as it was, Nakasha was on him, grappling him to the ground with strength it didn't look like she had. She held his face to the ground as she pulled his arms back, straddling his back. "Keep still and this will hurt less."

"I don't want your pity!"

"Why would I pity you? You've never lost anything, never had to fear. What is there about you to pity?" She asked, leaning over him more.

"You don't even know what those are!"

Nakasha rolled her eyes and looked to Shikamaru. The man nodded and she got off.

"One more stint like this, Daimo, and you're off the team." Shikamaru said solemnly, looking, above all, disappointed. That was what hurt him the most.


	4. History Always Repeats

Cold rage bubbled in his chest. Broken heartache rang through his soul. No one cared. No one listened. No one observed. Not Shikamaru-sensei, not Taio and most certainly not the Hatake bitch. He hated her above all. She was kind and just and helpful and secretive and powerful. She danced around shuriken like she was born to and aimed with an Uchiha's precision. Her abilities were beyond anything he'd ever be able to compare to.

Somewhere deep in his heart, the hidden part that spoke sense to him, he knew that Nakasha was everything he wanted to be. She was the model image of his life goal. She had already walked his entire life's path before she joined the Academy. He hated her for it. He hated her for the strength she possessed that he lacked. He hated her for her adult mindset and childish joy. He hated seeing her playfully grapple with Taio and let the boy win, despite knowing many ANBU techniques that could easily throw the boy off. He hated the way her silver hair glinted the colour of blood in the dawn and dusk, like a paintbrush dipped in the reddest of reds, a dripping crimson.

He wanted to take away her stoic happiness and cheeky eye-smiles. He wanted her strong will to bend to him. He wanted to make the leader in her follow him. He wanted her dominant personality to submit to him. He wanted to take her ability and strip her of it. He wanted her control to slip into helplessness. He wanted her fearlessness to quail.

He hated her. Inside his heart, the small beacon of light slowly being overwhelmed by his darkness, he knew he loved her. He wanted her because she was everything he was not. He wanted her protection, to be nurtured the same way she did Taio. He wanted, craved, even, to have her laugh because of him. He wanted her to need him the same way he tried to resist needing her.

Oh, he hated her.

{|}

"Daimo!"

Resentment swelled inside of him at her voice, but the paralyzing realization of his approaching death overpowered it. He needed her right now. He needed her to save him, like she always did. He'd hate her later for it, he knew he would. He'd curse his weakness and rage that he would have rather died. He knew, however, that he was always a bad liar. Faced with death now, the blade coming down to cut his head in half, he was so afraid, so small: he knew he didn't want to die. He wanted to live to best the bitch that would save his life. He wanted to be the one to best her, to dominate her, then to love her and protect her.

Sparks skittered over her bracer as her cropped, gravity-defying white hair blocked his vision. Taio's Terra Crumble jutsu made the man fall, most likely to his death, but that didn't stop the sparks. They danced across her forearm until the man disappeared completely.

Nakasha panted, her hands coming up to cup her left eye with a hoarse cry of pain. Over her shoulder, Daimo watched as she pulled her hand back, the crimson liquid glistening on her moonlit, porcelain hand.

"My eye . . ." She mumbled, staring on in horror. "My eye . . ."

"Where are you guys?! Answer me!" Shikamaru-sensei burst out of the brush, instantly freezing. It was then that the rest of Team Shikamaru could see exactly what happened.

In the small meadow, the moon cast down a pure white light. Nakasha stood in the middle of it all, the spiked tips of her hair, so alike to the moon above, dipped in the same dark liquid that coated her hand. Blood flowed freely through the slash on the left side of her face, right through her eye.

She didn't cry. She just shook. She trembled, her whole being quaking. Her resolve was faltering, they could tell. This moment would make or break her character. Her pale lips parted and she managed a smile, though it was still vibrating with the wearing adrenaline and shock.

"I know I look like my dad," She said slowly, her form so jittery that it looked like she would fall to her knees any second. "but this is a little far, huh?"

Of all the things for her to say, none of them had ever expected that. She took an unsteady step forward, thin limbs slowly regaining their composure. She looked down at her hand one last time before reaching up to her hitai-ite. Gingerly, she pulled it down over her eye, pulling the knot in the back tighter.

"The mission's complete." She said softly, but authority had returned to her voice. Her steps were on solid legs and her arms were still. She laughed, sounding like she'd been punched in the stomach. "I don't suppose any of you have a self-sacrificing Uchiha on hand, do you?"

"Nakasha . . ." Shikamaru-sensei finally managed to get out, his voice as rough as sandpaper.

"Let's get back. I need to have this treated before it gets an infection." She said flippantly, adjusting her clothing. "C'mon. I'll lead."

He never hated her more than in that moment.


	5. Chipped Mirror

"I can't save it." Sakura sighed, looking away. "I'll have to remove it or there'll be an infection."

Shikamaru sighed, burdened. He'd let the enemy get too close to the King. Again. "Absolutely nothing?"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head again. "The gash is too deep. The eye is nearly in half on the inside.

Nakasha looked down at the bed. "Then take it out."

"What?" Both of the adults were startled by her sudden command.

"Take the eye out. It's no use anyway. It'll only get infected and I don't have time to waste on that. I don't even want you to find another eye, just take this one out."

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

Shikamaru bowed his head as Kakashi threw open the door to their hospital room. Sai was right behind him, looking in. He'd been Sakura's errand boy.

"When I saved Daimo, my eye got sliced open." Nakasha explained.

Obito.

Kakashi sat down beside his daughter and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I told them to just take it out, but they're not listening."

"You don't even want it for presentation's sake?"

"Why would I?" She looked up at him, hitai-ite dropped low over her left eye. "You keep the Sharingan covered all the time."

"I have an eye there, though."

"Big deal." She huffed, looking away. "Even if I did keep it, I'd cover it anyway. May as well just cut the risk and get rid of it."

Kakashi sighed, stroking his daughter's hair and resting his chin on her head.

"I know what you're thinking." Naruto said from the doorway, his softened voice making all of the nin jump. "Don't you dare."

"Oh?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "And what, persay, am I thinking?"

"You're not giving the Sharingan to Nakasha."

The elder Hatake blinked in surprise. "You really did know what I was thinking. Why shouldn't I?"

"It'll make her a target the likes of which you don't want on her head. You and Sasuke are both high-risk nin. That's why you're ANBU, so that no one knows whether or not you're coming."

"She's getting an eye, one way or the other." Kakashi said lowly, cradling the little girl to his chest. She settled there comfortably without argument and just let herself be held.

"Can I have a word with her alone for a moment?" Naruto's low voice dropped again, his blue eyes darkening with resolve. Hokage indeed.

"We'll be back in a minute." Kakashi promised.

{|}

It wasn't that Kakashi didn't trust Naruto. In fact, it was the opposite. He probably trusted Naruto the most out of everyone in the village. Only a select few came that close: his ANBU team and Shikamaru were the only other ones. He didn't even trust Sakura or Sasuke as much as Naruto. With Shikamaru, he'd recognized the weight of a brilliant mind and the effort and love he cast forth on the children he trained.

It had been nearly an hour since Naruto had locked himself and Nakasha inside the hospital room. Sakura had other patients to attend, but Kakashi and Shikamaru stayed resolutely outside the door. Their patience was well rewarded.

Naruto opened the door for Nakasha, who had her hitai-ite up, but her eyes closed.

"Dad?"

"Yes, baby?"

"I made this decision."

Kakashi nodded slowly, sinking to his knees in front of her, taking her hands. "This is your body. If you're old enough to risk it in battle, I think you're old enough to make the decisions about its care."

She took a deep breath and squeezed his hands. When she opened her eyes to look at him, her right was its regular soulful onyx while her right was a flare of angry red with a slit pupil. Like she did to him, Kakashi traced her new scar and around her eye.

"How did this happen?"

"Kurama offered to bind chakra into a new eye for her." Naruto explained, countenance heavy. "She has a seal on her stomach, just below the navel that attaches her eye to Kurama's chakra. Otherwise, she would have to support it and I know she doesn't have the reserve."

"I want to see again and if that means I need help to do so, then I will." Nakasha said lowly, as if afraid of her father's reaction. Kakashi just kissed her head.

"If it is what makes you happy, then that's what you needed to do. As long as it was your decision."

"It was." She confirmed.

"That's all I care about." He looked up to his former student turned Hokage. "Thank you, Naruto."

"No problem, Kakashi-sensei. And don't worry: I can't see into her mind via the chakra link nor vice versa. She's reliant on Kurama, so even if I die, she keeps the eye."

Nakasha nuzzled into her father's hand, her courage showing through. Not many seven year olds would have been able to do this. He wouldn't have.

"Let's go home." Kakashi picked the girl up, her form falling limply into his grip without fuss. Shikamaru frowned, saddened, and pet her hair.

"She might see doubt for a bit." Naruto warned, looking ruefully down to the girl. "And things might flare red. Be careful in her training, Shikamaru. She can pull more of Kurama's chakra, so she might do it unthinkingly and release a stronger jutsu."

"I'll keep it in mind." The Nara nodded, hand falling from the silver locks.

"Thank you, Naruto." Kakashi said lowly, resting his baby girl's head against his shoulder, arms wrapping around her, shielding her from the world. "Let's go home, baby."

"Okay, Dad." Nakasha replied softly, voice further muffled by how she pressed herself into his body.

{|}

Kakashi set his baby down on the edge of the tub, slowly peeling back the clothes that were caked onto her skin in blood and dirt. She sat silently, lifting up her arms and adjusting her hips to make the clothing come off easier. Her fingers grazed along the surface of the steaming water as her father removed her hitai-ite, setting it on the sink.

She watched her father undress himself, tossing the navy fabric of the shinobi uniform off to the side. As with her, his hitai-ite was the last thing to be removed, his Sharingan blazing back at her.

Without a word passed between them, he picked her up, placing her in front of him as he settled into the nearly-scalding water.

"This doesn't change you." Kakashi said suddenly.

"It doesn't?" The fear in her voice made him cringe. Of all the things he'd ever tried to avoid, that was at the top of the list.

"When I got the Sharingan, it didn't stop me from being me. It made me stronger. It made me a better person."

"You saved a friend."

"Obito and I weren't really ever friends." Kakashi admitted. "I came to love him as a friend after he died for me."

Kakashi picked up the shampoo, pouring some onto one hand while the other cupped water into her short hair. She leaned into the touch, relaxing as her father's hands worked into her scalp. "I don't want people to be afraid of Kurama's Eye. It's so mean-looking, an angry red with an inhuman slit . . ."

"It won't matter. My Sharingan's red too. It might not glow regularly like yours does, but my eye also isn't a ball of chakra. The fact that you have an eye made of chakra is huge. There are so many nin out there that can't replace lost eyes, or have demon foxes give them one. You're the only person in this world to have a Tailed Beast's eye."

She lazily observed the blood in her hair and plastered to her skin turn the water a murky pink colour. She smiled softly. "I am."

"If you want to wear your headband like I do until you're comfortable, that's okay too. All I ask is that you fight with it open."

He stood her up, washing away the blood and grime smeared on her skin, remembering all the times that he had to do this himself as a boy. She nodded. "Okay, Dad. I will."

Kakashi stood once she was completely clean and used the showerhead to rinse the tub. She stared as she watched the old dirt disappear down the drain. As her father lead her back into her room to dress her, she felt inexplicably lighter.


	6. Wounded Pride

"Why did you save me?"

Nakasha started at the harsh tone. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you save me back in the meadow?"

"Because you're a teammate." She replied simply.

"You don't even like me."

"You might be mean to me unnecessarily, but that doesn't mean that you don't mean anything to me. Ninja rules say that anyone who abandons the mission are scum. Ninja who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

"Where did you learn that?"

"That's Dad's Will of Fire. He passed it onto me. It's the Hatake Ninja Way."

"What bullshit."

She raised an eyebrow, her other eye hidden since the incident. "I guess. But my Ninja Way saved your life."

"I'd have been fine."

"Doubt that." Taio but in.

"No one asked you!"

"I don't need to be asked." The other boy retorted, plopping down next to the Hatake. "I have the right to speak and say whatever I want."

"Get out! No one wants you here!"

"What are you, six?" Taio shot back. "You got Nakasha's eye gouged out and all you can do is bark at her? How about thanking her for what she did? She might never be able to see out of that eye again because of you."

"I didn't ask for her help!"

"So, you'd rather have died than have her save you?"

"Guys, enough. It doesn't matter. What's done is done." Nakasha intervened. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! What good is a ninja world where everyone takes everything for granted?!" Taio sputtered.

"She's just trying to act heroic." Daimo bit out. "She wants to pretend that she's like Hokage-sama or her father. She's not. In comparison, she's a failure and that's all she'll ever be."

Taio was struck speechless and Nakasha just looked at him.

"Perhaps." She uttered lowly after a pregnant silence. Her hand moved to her hitai-ite, sliding it back into position on her forehead. "I'm just lucky enough to have people who care enough about me to sacrifice for me."

When her eyes opened, both boys were shocked by the overwhelming and sudden burst of flaming red. The slitted eye flickered along with the null black to see their faces, taking in the awe, fear and disgust.

"Who gave you that?" Taio asked.

"Naruto-sama. It's Kurama's eye. It's made of chakra."

"Wow." The smaller boy murmured. "Can I touch?"

"Sure." She closed the eye and observed as he traced the scar and the eyelid, feeling the unsteady thrumming from the woven chakra as it bounced and fluttered all over.

"Gross." Daimo snapped. "That's weird. You should hide it."

She sighed and pulled the hitai-ite back down over her eye. "I know."

"Stop being so stoic! You're not a rock!"

Black flame came to life in her visible eye and she backed him into a tree with her snarl. Her fist cracked the tree when she made impact, sending splinters everywhere. "Then stop being an asshole to me! Don't talk to me like I'm nothing! I risked my life and lost my eye so you could live!" She deflated and moved away, head bowed. "I don't want your thanks. I don't want gratitude. Just be happy you're still alive and maybe you can begin to understand why I moved to save the life of an ungrateful dickhead that hates me. I'll see you guys later."

In one puff of dull grey smoke, she'd vanished into the wind.

"Why would you do that?" Taio snapped, actually punching the other boy.

"Do what? It's not like I like her or anything. I would kill her myself if given the chance!"

Taio's eyes widened. "No. She may have the demon eye, but it's you who's the monster."

{|}

"At this rate, you'll become Chunin in no time." Shikamaru laughed breathlessly, ducking to avoid her kunai barrage.

"I'm going to be nine soon, so I hope so." Nakasha laughed, slitted eye flickering like a Sharingan.

"I think you need some higher level opponents."

"I love you, Shikamaru-sensei, but I think you're right." She swiped his feet out from under him before jumping on his chest.


	7. Passing Like Rain in the Mountains

"I don't want you to go."

Kakashi looked back at her, surprised. She usually never said anything like that. "Oh? Why?"

She rubbed her arm. "I'm getting a bad feeling. Don't go."

"I can't turn ANBU missions down. You know that."

"Don't go."

He sighed, kneeling down in front of her. They were outside room that Kakashi's team housed in. He reached behind his head, lifting the soft white hair there and unlacing a small black thread. "Here." He wrapped the black fabric around her neck, lacing it up in the back and tying it tight. The clingy fabric altered to the much smaller dimensions of her face. "Now you have a piece of me with you always."

Her eyes teared up as she fingered the thick, sturdy, warm and familiar material. "You don't need this as good luck?"

"You're my good luck charm." He smiled, kissing her lips lightly. "Be good while I'm gone, okay?"

"I will." She promised, kissing him back. "And you make sure you come home."

"Promise." He pulled the mask up over her lips, kissed her forehead and opened the door."

"I love you, Daddy." She said quietly. He smiled softly and ruffled her short, spiky hair.

"I love you more."

{|}

Kakashi had once told Naruto that his life was full of broken promises and regret. The only ray of unaltered sunshine had been Nakasha. He loved her with everything he had to offer, no matter how broken. He did everything in his power to make sure that his darling little baby remained as happy and healthy as she could. He even gave her his token mask, something he'd had on his person since before his father died.

"Naruto? What's wrong?"

The man looked up to Shikamaru, who wore a confused and worried expression. "Kakashi-sensei was killed."

The looks that passed over the Nara's face flowed from disbelief to denial to shock to horror to grief and lastly settled on pity. While he hadn't really known the Hatake, Shikamaru had respected the man from a distance, also bearing him in mind as his beloved teacher Asuma's friend. His pity, Naruto knew, went out for his daughter.

"What are you going to tell Nakasha?"

The Hokage sighed heavily. "I have no idea."

{|}

"Wait a minute!" Nakasha placed her shuriken back on her desk so no one would step on them and then tucked the sharpening and cleaning tools away. She bounded over to the door, swinging it open to find the Hokage and her sensei on her doorstep. "Oh. Hi, guys. What can I do for you? A new mission?"

"Can we come inside?" Naruto asked softly, too gently for a man as outgoing as her Hokage.

"Okay, I guess." She nodded slowly, stepping back to allow the older nin in. "What's this about? If Daimo is spreading rumours again, I've been in my room sharpening my shuriken all day, so it wasn't me."

"That's not it." Shikamaru said, lowering his head. "I think you need to take a seat for this."

She reached down and pulled the mask over her lower face, shielding it from view. She took in the smell of her father, so deeply ingrained in the cloth. Sitting between the towering blonde and the lazy raven, her suspicious gaze flickered between them.

"What happened? Just spit it out."

"Your father . . ." Naruto started, but made the mistake of looking at her. Despite one eye being red and slitted, both were adorably wide and innocent. He made a broken choking sound and looked away, eyes closed and teeth grit in frustration and grief.

"Kakashi was killed in action." Shikamaru explained softly, altogether avoiding Nakasha's gaze.

"Huh?" She blinked, then stood. Scowling, she glared at them. "This isn't funny. If you don't like me, this isn't the way to show it."

"You know I adore you." Naruto said, tears in his voice that he refused to allow purchase on his face.

"You're my prized student. We're not lying. Kakashi is K.I.A. He sacrificed himself so the others would get away."

"Stop it, Shikamaru-sensei." She shook her head firmly. "I don't care who put you up to this, you need to stop."

"I'm so sorry." Naruto whispered. "I loved him too."

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice them. She shook her head harder, hands fisting at her sides. "You two have a fucked up sense of humour. Obviously Dad's home, so I'm going to ANBU to see him. Show yourselves out."

"Please don't." Naruto pleaded, blue eyes wide and pleading. "Don't."

"OUT!"

{|}

Dusk found Nakasha Hatake sitting on a bench on the fringe of the training grounds, her mask up and her eye covered. Her hands were underneath her thighs, the meager meat of them enough to ward off the incoming night's chill for a little while longer before she had to return home.

Home. What a funny word.

Thinking about the place she'd grown up in, she didn't feel anything other than cold loneliness. The place was filled with hints of her father, smelled like him, even. She had still been eating leftovers from the last meal he'd made. Everything about the place tore her: she wanted to go back, live with and cling to the last remains of the man that made her, but she also wanted to flee, to run and pretend none of it had ever happened.

She couldn't bring herself to make either decision. She didn't want to forget about her father, but the thought of the pain his memory would bring was too overwhelming. More so than getting her eye gouged out. No physical pain would ever compare to this loss.

"Hey." Shikamaru's over-warm body settled next to her chilling one. "How are you doing?"

"Terrible." She replied tonelessly, shattered from the inside out.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, putting out his cigarette.

"So am I."

"You want to go home?"

"No."

"Then you'll stay with me."

She looked up at the stars and released a deep breath. "Okay."


	8. Stranger In Distant Lands

"Since when is that a thing?" Shikamaru was on the verge of losing his temper. Naruto sighed.

"I have no idea. I looked into it to make sure they were telling the truth and they were. Neither of us can adopt her."

"Well, fuck."

"Yeah."

"And the Council?"

"They say she's too powerful to be left alone."

"Kakashi was left alone."

"Minato inducted him, cited him as an heir before he was taken on his genin team. Therefore, he had the rights to Kakashi's life. I think he knew Sakumo was going to kill himself."

"Shit."

"I know." Naruto ran his hands through the spiky blonde hair that crowned his head. "I don't know what to do."

"Can't we get one of the other Genin Nine to adopt her? It's not like she's a big problem, but knowing the Council, they'll give her to an anti-ninja family. Have Sasuke adopt her and I'll take care of her."

Naruto sighed heavily. "Believe me, I asked. I asked everyone. I even asked Gaara, though I knew he would say no."

"Why? He could have taken her and he didn't?"

"He said he didn't want to rip her away from Konoha and her team. I'd almost think it would be better, actually."

Shikamaru slumped against his desk. "I'm going to ask again."

{|}

He was dreading seeing her. She'd left a note back at his place that told him where he could find her. She stood just above the basin that the Waterfall of Truth flowed into, gazing into the sun. Her hair looked more like rust in the fiery sunlight than anything else.

"Hey."

"Hey, Shikamaru-sensei."

His arm fell around her shoulder and he pulled her chilled frame against his warm one. "Are you okay?"

"No." She sighed and rest her head against his ribs. "Shikamaru-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Why doesn't anyone want me?"

He knew it would come up eventually, but he didn't make the topic any easier. "They're sad as well that Kakashi is gone. They look at you and see him."

"And what's the excuse you're going to throw at me for you and Naruto-sama not adopting me either?"

Shikamaru recoiled like he'd been physically struck. "There's law that says the Hokage and teacher of a student are not allowed to adopt a trainee, Genin or Chunin child."

"Well, shit."

"Exactly. I'd adopt you if I could. I even offered to care for you, if only someone would make sure you were in good hands."

"I hate this."

"You can cry, you know. You need to."

"I can't cry. If I cry, he's really gone. I've given up on him."

"You won't see him again."

"I know that!" She spat, body tensing. "I saw him! I saw his body before they cleaned it all up and made him presentable for the funeral. I saw!"

Shikamaru caught her as she collapsed, thin limbs trembling and body stricken with tremours. Her hands held her mask to her mouth, breathing in the familiarity of her father. "Shh, Nakasha, shh."

"Why?" Her voice was a broken whisper of a muffled sob. "Why him? Why is it always my dad? What did he do to deserve this? He always got the shitty end of the deal, always had to make up for other people's mistakes, always bearing the burden of everyone's failures, always hating himself for not being better. How much better was he supposed to get? Look at where it got him!"

Shikamaru pulled her into his chest, holding her quaking frame against his and rocking, pressing her head against his shoulder.

"Why did he have to leave me? Did I do something wrong that he's paying for? I don't understand. I just want my dad back."

Shikamaru pressed a kiss to her forehead, wiping away her tears. "Let's go home."

"I don't have a home anymore."

{|}

Naruto stood overtop of Kakashi's tombstone, simply staring. Nakasha lay curled by the unforgiving marble, huddled there in exhaustion as sleep finally overcame her.

There wasn't much the Hokage could do here. As much as she loved Shikamaru, knowing that she couldn't stay with him forever made her flee. He knew the feeling. She didn't want to get too comfortable only to have to abandon it, much like her former home.

So, Naruto did the only thing he felt was right.

The orange and red of his Hokage (and Sage) robe was wrapped around her front while he held her from the back. She shivered and curled into him, letting the tense muscles, trying vainly to warm her, relax.

{|}

"This is your new home." The man said.

Nakasha was by no means a stupid girl. She was a prodigy genius, like her father and sensei. She was intelligent, no two ways about it. Perhaps it was that small inkling of borrowed brainpower that had her gauging her sensei's reactions to the man over her own judgments of him.

"Make sure you keep in mind that there are rules and you will follow them. If you don't like it, you will keep quiet about it and live with them anyway."

"So what's my curfew then for training?" She asked, blinking up at him with her mismatched eyes. "Dad always let me stay out after dark, but I had to be back before midnight. Longer only if I was training with him or Shikamaru-sensei."

"Don't worry, dear girl." The man smiled. "You won't be training anyway."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes. You're leaving the world of the ninja."

"Who died and made you king?"

The man stopped abruptly, looking back to the small Hatake girl. "Pardon?"

"You heard me. Who died and made you king? I can make my own decisions."

"Then why don't you leave and do so? We don't need another mouth to feed."

"I would. Your Council seems to think that I need to be babysat. I don't want to be here, I'm being forced to."

The man smirked cruelly. "Your ninja friends aren't as brotherly as you thought they were, are they?"

Nakasha growled, stance defensive. "Shut up you know-nothing piece of shit."

His face turned dark. "Excuse me? I don't recall giving you permission to use that sort of language."

"I don't need your permission."

"You do if you ever wish to see your assets again."

She rolled her eyes. "Right. Because I didn't think of signing that off to someone I trust before I walk blindly into a household chosen to tame me. Sounds like a sound idea to me, eh, Shikamaru-sensei?"

The Nara laughed lowly, shaking his head. "Who?"

She eye-smiled cheekily at him and clasped her hands together behind her back so the fingers were laced together. Finger laced to combine chakra natures = Mokuton. She gave it over to Yamato for safekeeping knowing that he wouldn't do anything with Kakashi's fortune or home. She really is smart.

Shikamaru smiled at the thought.

"Why would I tell?" She laughed, flicking her hair back off to the left.

"You're dismissed, Nara-kun."

Instantly, Shikamaru was scowling again. He hated Moko Tumeri. The man was an abusive prick. He'd have thought Konoha would have wanted another Hatake ninja, but apparently not.

Not much I can do now except wait. Shikamaru mused, walking away. We've got a plan for this. Trust in her.

{|}

As soon as she was inside the door, Nakasha was smashed against the wall, Moko growling in her face.

"You think you're funny, don't you? I don't. You will act, look and present the way I tell you to, not whatever half-assed parenting you were getting before. I am not Kakashi Hatake."

"I can tell." The girl snapped back. "You don't look half as good."

She received a stinging slap on her face and had the mask ripped off of her face. "You will listen. Or, must I break you like a new pet?"

"Get off me." She hissed. He pressed her harder to the wall.

_Dad never did this. Dad never. Dad never . . ._

Her hands flew into the flurry of handsigns and her right palm crackled with the power of the Raikiri. "Get off me, or I'll stick this so far up your ass that your clan father will feel it."

His face lit up in rage and she found herself thrown through a wall. Despite the impact, the Genin landed on her feet, balance stable and stance dangerous.

"You witch!"

"I will hurt you if you treat me like that again." Nakasha snarled, body twisted in a brilliant and flexible defensive offence stance. She could attack if she wanted or dodge if she needed. "I'll keep out of your way and we don't have to see each other."

"Can't have that. You're my new daughter and I need you to make connections. Can't have you running around with all those men while you're pretending to fight. Women don't fight, and you most certainly will not. I'll make sure of it."

_What the hell have I been thrust into?_


	9. Can't Fence The Wind

"You wouldn't believe him! The misogynist bastard. Thinks he can throw me around just because I'm a smaller girl. I'll show him, Dad. Just you wait. I'll shove the Chidori through his chest the next time he touches me."

"That bad, huh?"

Nakasha sat up immediately, kunai in hand. It was late into the night, long past her pre-dusk curfew. This was her first night without someone sleeping in her room with her. Naturally, she took the opportunity to talk with her father. She may never be able to see him in person again, but telling his grave her thoughts cleared them and gave her a sense of closeness to him that she no longer possessed. She remembered laying on her father's chest and telling him about her day. This was as close as she'd ever come to getting it again.

Shikamaru just liked teasing her with it, despite coming to talk to Asuma and light his cigarettes.

"Don't scare me like that, sensei." She groaned, falling back down against the grass, her hand reaching up to stroke the craven characters of his name.

"I'll try not to intrude next time." He chuckled, coming to sit beside her, but not on a grave. "So, what's been going on?"

"Where do I begin?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Firstly, he wants me to quit the shinobi life. Not fucking likely. He also wants me to wear dresses and grow out my hair. I think he plans on making me a geisha." She shuttered. "Not that I've got anything against those girls, but I'm just not cut out for it. He also wants me to wait on his shithead sons. Also not happening. He takes it into his head to try and beat me whenever he gets the chance. Prick. I want to kill him so badly, sensei. It's taking more for me to not kill him than it is for me to tolerate or snark every other misogynist in the place, which is quite a talent."

"Plan?"

"After curfew, which is at four p.m., I get fed and shipped off to my room." She rolled her eyes. "I'll sleep then until midnight and sneak out to train. What he thinks of as guards have less skill than the newbie Academy students and couldn't see me walking across a deserted arena if they had on their reading glasses."

"Should make it easy for you."

"Yeah. I don't know if you want to meet me or not. You have a schedule and a team, after all, during the day, so I wouldn't be upset if you just left a folded note on my father's grave for me to pick up. I'll probably stop to talk to him first anyway."

"I'll make a deal with you. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll meet you here and give you instruction and probably watch you. I'll leave you written instruction if we get deployed for however long I'll be gone. Sound good?"

"Sure thing, sensei."

His gaze lingered over her hidden features. He lifted up his arm and the girl fell against him without thinking, gazing up at the stars. "You okay?"

"I'm happy you're my sensei, Shikamaru-san. I don't think I've told you enough how much you mean to me. I never got to tell my dad. I never got to tell him how much I really loved him."

"He knew." He stroked her hair. "He would want you to do your best and follow your Ninja Way, no matter what happens."

"Are Daimo and Taio signing up for the Chunin Exams?"

"Yeah. Naruto was going to see if he could find another Genin for their team."

"Don't. Slot me in. Once I'm in, he can't refute it."

"I will." He leaned back and gazed up at the stars with her.

"I love you." She said suddenly, tangling the fingers in her hair with her own. "I want you to know that. I love you."

"I love you too, Nakasha." He squeezed her hand. "We should train now, before the night gets too old."

"Sure thing, sensei."

{|}

When Shikamaru couldn't be there, he made sure that one of the other Genin Nine were there with her. Most times it was Rock Lee, who would spar endlessly, earning himself a new, young rival. She took every challenge seriously, testing herself with every race and pushing herself with every contest. Despite her age, she would be a wonderful rival for him in the future. He didn't come to appreciate Kakashi as much in his life as he had once he took up the role of post-midnight part-time sensei for his daughter. He also brought TenTen along on Sundays, letting the woman help the girl with her ninja tools and their upkeep.

However, there were also times when the dynamic taijutsu specialist was called away. Times like that, Ino or Choji would come, inciting her to learn new ways to adapt to different levels of assault.

It was rare for anyone else to join her, but there were also times when Sasuke and Sakura would come. They were even more rare than Team Kurenai, who they were a particularly busy Jounin team.

Sasuke was very awkward, not seeming to know how to react to her and calling her Kakashi on more than one occasion. Sakura was a little better, but not much.

But she had a special visitor that no one else knew about.

Naruto, every Saturday like clockwork, would be sitting beside Kakashi's gravestone, two bowls of Ichiraku's takeout ramen set out in well-used insulated cups. He always waited for her, never once eating before she arrived, no matter how late she actually was. It was his only night that he refused to let get filled with paperwork. Instead, he refined her already impressive chakra control skills to a level on par with her father. Naruto, also, honed and kept his Sage skills sharp. Sometimes they even trained physically afterwards, but that was always little more than a test to see if both of them were keeping up. It was also during that time that she learned how to control Kurama's Eye.

Nakasha sat down on her father's grave like it was his lap. Naruto watched her intently, wondering if she came here every night before heading to the training grounds.

"Why do you come, Naruto-sama?" She asked, the question appearing out of thin air.

"Call me Naruto. I'm nothing more than you here."

"Okay, Naruto. Why?"

He sighed and ran his fingers along his sensei's name. "Kakashi did so much for me. He cared about me and never treated me any different. Maybe it was because he was outcast too, at a time. He understood where I came from, to a degree. But it's mostly you."

"Me?" She cocked an eyebrow, pulling her mask down to noiselessly slurp up some ramen noodles.

"Yeah." He smiled softly and ruffled her hair. "I grew up without knowing my parents. I grew up resenting the fact that I didn't have any and how much I was alone in everything I did. I know you're not like me, but you're starting from scratch. The people who don't look down at you give you pity you don't want. I understand. I want to help you become as great as you can be. Shikamaru talked to me about those Chunin Exam arrangements as well."

"Yeah? What's up with that? Shikamaru-sensei hasn't been around enough lately to talk to me about it."

"I had already slotted you in as the third and there was no changing that. I know you want to be a ninja like Kakashi. I want you to be too. Can I let you in on a secret?"

"Sure. What is it?" She looked up at him with childish innocence, something he'd been so afraid she'd lost.

"After you complete the Chunin Exams, because I know for a fact that you're the best fighter there is this year, I plan on taking you into ANBU. It'll take you out of that place and in my personal control, somewhere the Council can't get at you. I hate that I'm doing this to you so young, but-"

"That's great news!" She grinned broadly at him. "I can't wait!"

"How's training with Lee going?"

She calmed down, eating a piece of shrimp with a thoughtfully fond look on her young face. "Good. He said that my taijutsu is gaining on his rapidly and that I'd make an excellent rival once I'm a little bigger."

"Sounds lovely." Naruto smiled, happy to finally see sunlight break through the eternal darkness that Kakashi's death had shrouded her in. She might not be healing in the healthiest or most conventional way, but she was, and that's all the Hokage could ask for.

{|}

"Lee-san?"

"Yes, Nakasha-chan?"

The girl fidgeted a little, scuffing her boot along the ground. "Could you teach me Primary Lotus?"

Lee blinked in surprise. "I suppose I could. Why do you wish to know? Are you planning on using it in the Chunin Exams?"

"I wasn't, but I thought that any tool would be a good one." Nakasha shrugged sheepishly.

"I will ask Shikamaru-kun if he is okay with you practising this move. I warn you; it takes a very harsh toll on the body. The pain you experience is immense afterwards. It also leads to the opening of the Eight Gates, so be careful."

"I understand. Anyway, what was the lesson in mind for today?"

"I would like for you to attack me using whatever skills you have, including genjutsu and ninjutsu. This is for me as well as you."

"Okay, Lee-san."

"Do your best!" Lee patted her shoulder before striding over to ready position.

"Before we start, I have one more question." She sheepishly rubbed her arm. Lee's wide eyes just blinked at her and he smiled.

"Of course. What do you have to ask?"

"Once Moko finds out about the Chunin Exams, he'll still insist that I fight in a kimono, which makes me clumsy. I was wondering if I could have a suit like yours, but in black."

"Of course, Nakasha-chan! I will have one for you the next time I come! Why would you wear spandex, however? Would you not hide your outfit here underneath the kimono?"

"Believe it or not, they pat me down to make sure that I don't have anything extra on me that I'm not supposed to. I've already gotten Shikamaru-sensei to promise to smuggle me my kunai, shuriken and other weapons, but I don't know if he'll be able to get these clothes."

"I see. Then I will make doubly sure that I have the suit for you."

"Thank you, Lee-san."

"Let us begin." He dropped down into his ready pose and she followed, hips cocked in an outwardly lazy stance and muscles relaxed.

"Prepare yourself, Lee-san." With those words, she blurred and vanished.


	10. Taming Lightning

Lee was a saint. Nakasha swore it up and down. The spandex, even without her measurements, clung to her in all the right places and loosened when she wanted it to. Best of all, it was the same black as her mask, perfectly blending as a shirt and pants set. Moko didn't approve of her wearing anything under the kimono, but she stubbornly pointed out that if she didn't, her assets would be on display. Due to her slender frame, the kimono constantly slid this way and that, exposing various parts of her at various times.

"Love you, Lee-san." She whispered, sliding on the silky material. It was by no means warm, but she didn't care. She'd be warm soon enough.

"You say something?" Her babysitter called from outside her door.

"No, Rei." She sighed.

There were times when she was in this household that she was eternally grateful to her father for teaching her the ways of a ninja from such a young age. Apparently, it was commonplace for the male 'bodyguards' to rape their charges without repercussion. Moko seemed to think it was a good way to keep women in their places, and with Nakasha being the most rebellious, he sent his worst rapist in to make sure that she behaved.

She had nearly fried his ass. She'd been working on a new jutsu that would allow her to cloak her body in her chakra, only expending it when it struck someone. All it took besides that was concentration. It just so happened that the jutsu worked for the first time when he snuck up on her, attempting to grab her while she was pliant.

It had been hilarious to see him yelp and skulk off like the dog he was.

She wrapped the kimono around her, slipping one of Kiba's little sweet tarts into her mouth. Whenever Team Kurenai came to training, they showered her with little gifts of food, ointment or small weapons. Kiba was infamous for bringing her sweets of every description. Hinata brought her ointments and healing items, mostly, including some of the best (her homemade) soldier pills. Shino brought her scrolls, ink and blank parchments. He'd even gone to the expense of getting her sealing scrolls, like the one she hid their gifts inside. She was allowed one scroll by Moko, and she abused the 'privilege'.

"I'm ready to go." She opened the door to her room and walked past Rei, who was forced to trail behind her. "I'm going to check the boards for the Chunin Exams."

"Why would you do that? Not like you're a ninja anymore." Rei commented, hanging back due to the lingering wariness of the Thunderous Heavens jutsu.

"You might think that, but that doesn't mean that I won't be there for my team. Not only are they my comrades, but they're my friends, too. Especially since you won't let me see them."

"What do you mean that 'I might think that'?" Rei narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Kurama's Eye found its way through the thick, long net of moon-white hair, glowing a menacing red.

"Check the boards."

There, in slot fifteen, the name read Nakasha Hatake.

"Would you look at that." Nakasha smiled cheekily behind the mask. "Guess I'm in the Exams too."

{|}

"Take her out of the Exams."

"Let go of me, you old prick!"

Naruto blinked, startled at Moko's appearance. "Pardon?"

"She's not a ninja. Take her out."

"I can't. She has to forfeit."

"Then forfeit." He glared down at the girl. She ripped her arm out of his grip and scowled.

"Not if I could bring my father back." She spat.

He grabbed her by the hair, pulling her onto her toes. "You'll forfeit right now."

"Or what? You'll have Rei try to rape me into place? Not likely." She snarled back.

Moko slapped her across the face. Before Naruto could stand up, Nakasha punched him dead in the face.

The man released her with a cry of surprised pain, clutching his nose. Nakasha just glared at him, rubbing her scalp. "I'll hit you harder next time, you old shit."

"I'll kill you." Moko rumbled back. He stepped towards her and her hand lit up with the power of the Chidori.

"That a challenge?" She lifted a graceful silver brow, shifting back into a ready position.

"I see things are quite volatile at home."

Naruto's voice broke both of them out of their staring contest. Nakasha was met with kind sympathy and sadness while Moko was stared down with overwhelming rage and malevolence.

"You could say that until you're hoarse and it doesn't come close to half of it." Nakasha replied.

"Then, as Hokage, I am going to have her removed from your house until such time as the Chunin Exams conclude."

"You can't-"

"I can and I just have." Naruto levelled him with another dark gaze. "Get out."

"But-"

"Now." His voice left no room for argument.

Moko left with what little of his pride remained.

"Where will I be staying, Naruto?"

"I cleaned out the fridge in Kakashi's apartment shortly after you left to live with Shikamaru. I think you should get some groceries," he slid a purse across his desk at her, "and go home. To sleep in Kakashi's bed and wear your old clothes. Relax until the Exams come. Then you're going to be inducted into ANBU."

Nakasha went back to her adoptive home first. She gathered what she had brought with her, but nothing of what she'd been given. She left the kimono on her bed and pulled out her sealing scroll, tucking it under her arm, despite its size. She slid her hitai-ite over her eye and fastened the mask around her lips. Rei watched her from the doorway.

"You won't get away with this."

"Get away with what?" She blinked innocently at him, but he knew better.

"Once the Council finds out-"

"The Hokage let me go. They can't overrule him. This is not a crisis nor something they need to rehash. I shouldn't have been here in the first place."

"You're our property now. Taking property is stealing."

"Isn't it kind of sad, then, that you got outsmarted by a pre-pubescent commodity?" She laughed, pushing past his much larger, yet weaker, frame. "Bye, Rei."

"I'll have first crack at you once you're returned."

"Keep thinking that." She paused at the top of the stairs, listening.

"What do you mean she's been removed, Uncle?" She remembered that voice.

"The Hokage decided she was to live on her own before the Chunin Exams."

"Where will she be afterwards?"

"I assume returned, but that doesn't matter. The sneaky bitch has been getting missives to that halfwit of a sensei."

"Shikamaru-sensei is actually quite smart, Uncle. It was most likely Taio. I hear that she's been sleeping with him."

She crept down the stairs, leaning around the doorway to observe Moko and Daimo talking to each other.

So this is where the superiority complex comes from.

"There she is now." Moko spit.

Daimo's eyes widened considerably and he tensed, shocked. She looked at them from the doorway, the spandex doing nothing to make her look more impressive.

"I didn't know you were a part of this family." She said conversationally, leaning against the doorway.

"I am." He turned back to his uncle and hissed darkly. "You never told me that this was her."

"You'll still get her after the Chunin Exams. I won't let her get away that easily."

"Okay then. Well, I'll probably see you tomorrow." Nakasha waved at her teammate and left, very much aware that she'd felt chills run down her spine and fear creep through her mind.

She'd have been chained down for Daimo's 'Right of Passage', her officially being given to him as a gift. She was a very lucky person.

{|}

She never did make it to practise. She never trained with them. Why she didn't had a simple answer.

Once she got home, groceries in hand, the familiarity hit her. Even after almost seven months, the place hadn't changed. Everything was exactly as she'd left it, exactly as _he'd_ left it.

Laying over the couch was Kakashi's flak jacket.

On shaky legs, Nakasha set the groceries down on the counter in the kitchen, almost falling as she approached the faded jade material. Still, she moved past it, stumbling over to his bedroom door.

Everything there was still the same as well, his tidy room still in the slight disarray it was always left in before missions.

She didn't feel the tears running down her face. She didn't acknowledge the trembling in her body. She didn't think of the thoughts racing through her head. She didn't really see the room before her.

{|}

Across the village, Naruto twitched, pain lancing through his chest and into his left eye.


	11. A Parent's Prayer

_"Dad?"_

_His strong arms squeezed her a little, nuzzling his nose into her hair. "Yes, sweetheart?"_

_"I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

_"Ha! Got it this time. Love you more!"_

_His low rumble tingled pleasantly, familiarly, down her spine. "I guess you did."_

_"I had this really bad dream last night."_

_"Oh? About what?"_

_"You dying."_

_"You know that I can't say it will never happen, but I'll always be with you in here, no matter where I am." His gloved hand tapped on her chest, her heart beating as if to rise in greeting. "I will always love you, no matter what you do, where you go or what choices you make. Kami knows I made enough mistakes for both of us. Never forget that."_

_"I won't. And you didn't make mistakes, Dad. You lived your life as best you could."_

_"I don't know if you're right; history will judge me. But I appreciate your thoughts. It makes me feel better knowing you don't think I'm a monster."_

_They remained in silence for quite some time, staring out over the trees and simply observing the oncoming dusk._

_"You're already dead, aren't you?"_

_"Yeah." He slumped, pressing his face into her neck. "And I'm sorry about that."_

_"I miss you."_

_"I know you do. I want to be there for you."_

_"I go into the Chunin Exams this week."_

_"Do you? Already?"_

_"Yeah. I'm gonna try to win. Will you be rooting for me?"_

_"Of course, my baby."_

_Dusk settled in the woodlands and the tiny white light was getting brighter and closer._

_"I don't want to go back. I'm so lonely."_

_"I'll be right here. I'll be waiting for you when you're time comes. Make sure it's not too soon. I'm always watching out for you, baby."_

_"Thanks. I love you, Dad."_

_"I love you too."_

_The light hovered before them, beckoning her with its twisting light._

_"I don't want to go back, Dad. I want to stay here. No one wants me out there."_

_"Sure they do. You just don't see it." He gently pulled her head back, kissing her forehead, the bare skin usually covered by her hitai-ite allowing the contact. She wormed further back into him, pulling the edges of the open flak jacket to cover her bare arms._

_"No, they don't. Why else did I end up in that horrible place?"_

_He took her hand in his, running his thumb along the back of it. "You take things for granted. Just because they don't outwardly say it, other people love you as well. Probably not like I do, because I'm your father. I raised you. But they do. I'm sure Taio loves you as a friend. Lee adores you as a rival. Shikamaru loves you like a little sister. What he saw you go through pained him probably more than you. Naruto loves you too, even if it's only from a distance. Team Kurenai loves you. Even Sakura and Sasuke love you."_

_"Then why are they so twitchy and nervous around me?"_

_He sighed heavily, his warm, unobstructed breath lingering on the skin of her bare neck. The long strands of moonlit hair had been chopped back down to their normal shoulder length and out of that horridly tight and neat bun that they'd forced the spiky strands into. Didn't they understand that the Hatake's hair was meant to defy gravity? "They are afraid because they see so much of me in you. They were hurt, too, when I died. It's not you they're afraid of, but my ghost that lingers in you. You're my living memory."_

_"I don't want to be looked at that way, as much as I enjoy being like you. I'm not you. I don't want them to try and coddle me as if I'm bound to the same fate that you are. I'm not dying anytime soon."_

_"That won't change anything. You have to accept it and show them that you're different with your actions."_

_"It's not me who made the mistake."_

_"It never is." He sighed again._

_"I don't want to go back."_

_"You have to. I want to keep you here too, in my arms, to protect you, but you need to live longer than this. The world needs you there, needs a Hatake."_

_"No one cares if I live or die."_

_"Listen."_

_She pulled out of her internal musings and listened to the whispered cries that came from the little twisting ball of multicoloured lights. It sounded like Shikamaru._

_"See? Shikamaru wants you there. Can you hear the worry in his voice?"_

_"I can." She leant forwards, as if entranced, before thrusting herself back into the cover of her father's arms. "No! No, there's no way you're tricking me into going back!"_

_"You won't even do it for me?"_

_She looked up at him, at the pained expression he wore on his maskless face. "Dad . . ."_

_"I want you to live, Nakasha. This is no way to die. You need to live, to show Moko and Daimo, to prove yourself to the world. You need to live, to love, to have children. You can't stay here."_

_"I can't leave you again."_

_He smiled at her, extending her hand to the pulsing orb. "I'll be waiting right here when you come back. I'll be waiting just like I am now. Don't you worry. You can't lose me, no matter if I'm dead or not."_

_"Promise?" Her hand resisted touching the ball by a hair's breadth._

_"I promise." He kissed her cheek and wound their fingers together, pressing her tips into the light. Within seconds, she was gone again, lost to the world beyond him._

_Kakashi settled back against the tree, staring at the rising blood-red moon. "Don't come back too soon, my little Blood Moon."_


	12. Evolving Worlds

"Wake up!" Shikamaru cried, his whole body alight with fear as she continued to convulse in his arms. She hadn't shown up for training since her release three days ago. Naturally, Naruto had given him the spare key to the apartment and told the man to make sure she was okay. He'd never expected to find her laying on the floor of Kakashi's room, wrapped in his flak jacket. She had started to convulse when he called her name, seeming to fight against coming out of whatever she was in. "Please, Nakasha, wake up!"

Suddenly, her whole body froze in a fit of tension before she collapsed in his arms, her mouth opening and an audible breath rushing in. After a few of these, her eyes slowly opened, staring at the face of her sensei.

"Sensei?" Her pale fingers reached up and stroked his face, as if confirming his existence. "That means . . ." She looked around Kakashi's room, a sob escaping her.

"It's okay. I've got you." He pulled her tightly into his chest, cradling her head in his hand against his shoulder. Her small arms wrapped around him, nearly bruising him with the force of her hold. "It's alright. I'm here now. Kami, how long were you hiding this?"

"Sensei, sensei _please_ . . ." She begged, though neither knew what for.

"Hold on." He whispered, standing. She'd lost weight since the last time he'd seen her. The Nara left the apartment, knowing that he was of little help for her.

{|}

Nakasha awoke to warm rays of sunshine pouring onto her face. She snuggled further into navy cloth, belatedly realizing that it smelt like her father. Sitting up, she took in the sleep-mussed sheets of her father's bed tangled around her legs and his overlarge Jounin shirt hanging from her gaunt body. Eyes cast over the bed, she noticed immediately her shadow. Moon-silver strands were once again short enough to defy gravity, sticking up but not straight.

"I'm sorry."

Her head snapped up to be met with the disheartened gaze of her Hokage. "What for?"

"I thought sending you back here would help you. I know you didn't grieve properly, but I never thought you'd get PTSD from it."

"I don't . . . have . . ." She sighed, wrapping the worn shirt around her tighter.

"You look just like him, you know." He spoke again, just as quietly. "You're strong, but you overburden yourself. I don't want you to look back on these years and think badly of them."

"I don't want to, either. There's nothing that will bring my dad back to me, and I know that." She admitted, looking away. "That doesn't stop me wanting him, no matter how foolish it may be."

He sat down gently beside her, bringing his forehead to rest against hers. "I know. I lost a good friend in Kakashi. I loved him too."

"I know you did. I know that you love me, too, in your own fashion." She smiled weakly.

"You can't stay here."

"I know." She murmured. "At least until the Exams are over? I need the time to . . . to . . ."

"I understand." He kissed her forehead. "I'm gonna make sure that someone drops by every night to make sure you're eating. And you need to train. The Exams won't go easy on you because of this."

"Hai."

He smiled, this time with his endless blue eyes lighting up. "You've got some visitors outside whenever you're ready to see them."

"You didn't let them in?" She cocked her head.

"This is your sanctuary. This is your memory of Kakashi. I couldn't be the one to decide when someone should enter it. Shikamaru and myself are exceptions to this rule." He stood, ruffling her hair like his sensei had always done to him. "Whenever you're ready."

{|}

Kiba's head shifted minutely, and his eyes flickered. The door to the apartment complex opened and the small body of Nakasha wandered out, much more delicate than she had appeared the week before.

Lee was by her side in an instant, catching her as her wobbly knees gave out. She looked more like Kakashi in that moment, trying her damnedest to keep together, but unable to. She wasn't crying, though. She didn't even look sad. She had on her father's customary eye-smile and she hugged Lee back.

"Sorry for this. Not eating in three days will do this to a girl."

"Then we must remedy that." Lee replied, resolute. "Come! We will fill your stomach and get you back your strength!"

"I'll buy." Hinata chirped, her soft voice having grown in strength since she was sixteen.

"Right on! Thanks, Hinata!" Kiba scooped the Hatake girl from where she rested in Lee's arms and set her on Akamaru, who barked happily. It wasn't often he got someone of such light weight to ride him. He snuck her a wonderful pastry that she was quick to gobble up, giving him a crooked grin before pulling the mask back up.

It was nice for the Genin Nine to see Nakasha back up and more playful than ever. Finally allowed freedom during the day, she did everything from cooking to training to running to chakra control exercises. Naruto vanished from her life again, but Team Kurenai got a reprieve, allowing them to spend more time with the white-haired wonder.

Daimo watched its evolution from a distance. The Hatake didn't really train with him or Taio anymore. No, she fought Shino's bugs, grappled with Kiba and Akamaru, raced Lee, dodged TenTen, weaved around Shikamaru, struck back at Choji, came to a battle of wills with Ino, levelled the field with Hinata, showcased her power with Sakura and even fenced with Sasuke, who was the most skittish of all around her. The Uchiha heir even taught her Kirin and several other Lightning ninjutsus that he'd perfected. It was appalling.

"Where does she get off having all this special treatment? People's parents die all the time and no one coddles them."

"She's different, you know that." Taio tried to reason, but it fell to deaf ears.

"She just thinks she's better than we are because her daddy was the Copy Ninja. Big fucking deal."

"This has nothing to do with Kakashi-san."

"Of course it does! There's no reason so many other people would take time out of their lives to baby her up like this. She's been fine for the six months she lived with my uncle."

"Was she allowed to mourn for her father then?"

"What are you saying?! My family never treated her with injustice! She was nothing more than ungrateful!" Daimo shrieked.

Taio didn't look convinced. "Keep thinking that, but she talks to me. She told me all about Rei and what he's there for. The women of your household are not her and she will never be subservient like that. It's not in her nature."

"So. She's gotten you too." Daimo backed up from him, disgust plastered over his face.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"She's got you on her side too, doting on her like she's something amazing, something _special._" He paused for a moment, taking in his friend's appearance. "You love her."

Taio's face turned a light pink and his eyes cast downwards. "Not love, really. More of a crush. Even you can't deny that's she's pretty under the mask."

"She's not pretty!" _She's beautiful._ "How can you love someone like that? She's so manipulative and conceited!" _Only I can love her, so you better not. She's the light and the honesty I crave_. "You're lucky I need you for the Chunin Exams."

Taio reared back. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You're going to kill me because I have a crush on a girl?"

_My girl!_ "No."

_Liar._


	13. The Victor Is History's Hero

It must have been rigged. There was no other way. No one could move like that. No one could weave through attacks and charge through, lightning crackling along their fingertips. No one. Not Kakashi himself could do that.

Yet, there stood Nakasha, panting over the other team, head held high, shortened hair gleaming. She was stunning in that moment, body poised as if to strike again, her hand slowly withdrawing from the compact ground below her to rest beside the head of the last boy on the other team. Her Chidori sparked and crackled, slowly fizzing out of existence. She stood tall as the applause overcame them. Then, that same hand that had almost killed the boy a moment ago extended to him. He took it and let the better competitor pull him up.

"Why?" He asked raggedly, adrenaline still rushing and lungs still heaving with exertion.

"Why?" She blinked at him before eye-smiling. "You're a good competitor. You'll make a great shinobi one day. What's your name?"

"Dalma."

She patted him on the shoulder. "I hope you pass, Dalma. I would like to work with you in the future."

Even after she'd left him, Dalma stared after her, stunned by how kind she was. Wishing him luck? How would that work? In the end, it didn't matter, because the younger kunoichi was his new life model, with or without his consent. He resolved himself to be as good as loser as she was a winner.

"I hope you win, Nakasha-chan!" He called after her, smiling when she looked back at him and running off to his own doors.

"I hate her." Daimo whispered. It took so much reminding for this fact to sink in.

Taio glanced over at him. "You love her enough to hate her. That's what that is."

"What?" The taller boy looked over to the smaller one.

"You heard me. You love her so much that you compare your own shortcomings to hers and find you're not as good as you think you are. Love is what's doing this to you. You know, maybe if you were to talk to her about it, you wouldn't have this problem."

"Shut up. You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Sure I don't." Taio rolled his eyes. "Coward. I already talked to her about my crush."

"You what?!"

"She hugged me and we decided to stay friends and see if anything else happened. When we were older."

"You have some nerve." It slipped by before he could stop it, but he nearly didn't want to. _She's mine. Only mine_.

"What?" Taio levelled him with a deserved look of disbelief.

"Nevermind. You'd never understand anyway."

"You're right. I don't get it. You've been really weird since you found out she was living with your uncle."

_Because she was meant for me! She was supposed to be my first, to be the one I was given to be there and do whatever I wanted her to. She was my property, and she's been stolen away. She stole herself away. It should never have happened. She belongs to me._ "Yeah. But that isn't where it started."

"Huh?"

Daimo snarled some unintelligible curse and stalked out of the Chunin Exam arena.

{|}

Daimo had been knocked out first out of their team, denied the Chunin rank. Taio went next, having reached into the semi-finals before being knocked out by a lightning user. Nakasha was, predictably, the last one standing.

"This is it."

Daimo jumped and looked up to his uncle. Moko nodded towards the arena as the small, young girl walked out to be met with the single most daunting hulk of man anyone in the arena had ever laid eyes on.

"What did you arrange?"

"I entered Sevranoso to make Chunin. They can't deny him, as he's a Genin with more than eight accomplished missions. He'll crush her here, where she's so close, and her broken spirit will lead her back to us, to you."

_I don't want her to be broken._ But he did want her, and there seemed little other option. There would never be one where she was docile by any means, but he almost considered that part of her charm. Kakashi himself couldn't convince the girl to act the part of a lady for any period of time. "What did you instruct him to do?"

"Genjutsu. We could break her body, but she is of little use to us then. We have to break her mind."

{|}

Naruto and Shikamaru scowled as the massive man trod out onto the field. They knew him and exactly what was going to happen, but they had no way to stop it.

"We can only hope she recognizes him and forfeits." Shikamaru said lowly.

"I do not want her to, but I think it would be the best option." Lee agreed, cocking his head. "She is still recovering from her seizure."

"She won't, though." Kiba muttered, leaning against the railing. "She's too strong for that."

"I think she'll be fine." Choji said, snacking while he watched. "I don't think you give her enough credit."

Genma stalked out into the middle of the field, watching each of the opponents in turn. "The finals are now underway. No restrictions are placed of any description. Let the match begin."

"Protect her, Kakashi." Naruto whispered.

{|}

Nakasha raised an eyebrow when the man smirked.

"I remember you. You were Rei's bitch."

She laughed. "I don't think your memory is as good as you think it is."

"He couldn't tame you. I'm here to break you."

She blinked, disoriented momentarily by a shift in the world around her. Suddenly, there was no large man. She was completely alone in the arena. Still, her senses were on high alert and she felt warnings trigger up her spine. She flew through a series of handsigns, her body lighting up with a radiant field of white lightning.

"Lightning Style: Thunder Goddess!"

{|}

"Something's wrong." Shikamaru was on the edge of his seat.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked. Neither she nor the man had moved.

"Thunder Goddess is a defensive jutsu. It's a chakra cloak. She can't see where he is, but she can feel him."

"Give her time." Choji assured. "She's more like Kakashi than you think."

{|}

_"What are you doing?"_

Nakasha spun around, looking for the source of the voice. "Dad?"

_"What do you think you're doing? You can't fight him."_

Her brow furrowed, even the one hidden behind her hitai-ite. "I . . . I don't understand. Why not?"

_"He's a caretaker of yours. You wouldn't harm family, would you?"_

She intensified the field, the dark feelings still creeping up her body. "He's not my family, though."

_"Isn't he part of the only family that wanted you? Even with your disappointing lack of chakra?"_

She recoiled, hurt. "Dad, why are you saying this?"

_"Because you need to know your place. No one in this village wants you. They would have adopted you otherwise, right? No one wants you and you scorn the only people that care."_

"You don't-You didn't-They don't-"

_"Are you interrupting me?"_

She shrunk in on herself, more fear lacing into her system. "N-no, I-I just-"

_"I didn't ask your opinion and I don't want it. No one does. Shut up and be the good little girl you should have been all along."_

"That's what you wanted? I . . . I'd have done it if you told me to."

_"You never loved me enough to listen anyway."_

"NO! Dad, that's not true!"

_"You're a liar, Nakasha. You're a cheap whore and a liar."_

She sunk to her knees, chakra still crackling on her skin. "Stop. Please, just stop."

_"Since when do I take orders from you? You brat. Don't you care for anyone but yourself?"_

She cradled herself close, hunched over with her arms around her stomach. She was trying not to vomit and not to cry, but her control was wavering. "Please . . ."

{|}

"Something's wrong. Stop the match." Shikamaru was standing now. The tenseness in his shoulders was astounding.

On the field, the man grinned evilly, drawing out a kunai and walking forwards. The Thunder Goddess fizzled out of existence, the Hatake's body looking even more small and broken than before. She looked moments away from a breakdown and the man hadn't even done anything.

Naruto said nothing.

"I'll kill him." Sasuke scowled, hand on his sword.

"Get in line." Ino scowled.

"Naruto, stop the match!" The Nara was on the edge of madness, but the ice of Naruto's eyes chilled him. That emotionless gaze cast back out to the field, where Sevranoso was leisurely approaching the young girl. She quivered, her whole body shaking and convulsing with emotional scarring.

"Just watch." The Hokage said at last, staring intently at the Hatake.

{|}

_"You're a pathetic excuse for a daughter, much less a kunoichi."_

Cold blasts of terror morphed into licks of white-hot flame. She raised her head, staring up at the illusion of her father standing before her. "Well, who does that reflect on?"

_"I don't have to live with myself."_

"Because you're dead. You're not here." She pulled back her chakra, faintly remembering a conversation with Naruto over the topic of genjutsu. "So, who are you? One of Moko's halfwit lackeys?"

_"I'm your father."_

"Then why aren't you six feet under? You're dead. I saw it. All of the gouges, all of the chakra burn marks. I saw the hole in your chest. I felt the cold of your skin. I saw how your hair turned from a vibrant white to a dull grey." She stood, her quivering fear now replaced with a quaking rage. "You can't fool me."

_"I'll be damned if you win now."_

She smiled grimly. "Then you're a damned man, aren't you?"

{|}

Servanoso watched in amusement as she tried to overcome his genjutsu. Despite her bravado, she hadn't the chakra to overcome an illusion this deep. She was simply not enough.

His only regret was how she would fall. He didn't want the game over so soon, but this was an urgent matter, Moko had said. He would do as his father commanded without thinking. He knew what was best. If this drowned rat was what he wanted, it was what he was going to get.

He smiled grimly when she reached up and righted her hitai-ite. He'd heard all about the kid's demon eye from Rei and Daimo, but had never figured she would use it. Her other hand reached down to her stomach, touching something only she seemed to know about. Her hand snapped at a ninety degree angle and she opened both eyes.

{|}

The wave of chakra she released blew the audience back. Sevranoso, who was particularly close, was sent hurdling back into the wall of the Exam arena. He stood again with a snarl only to watch as the Hatake devilspawn caught his dropped kunai with one finger, slipping it in effortlessly through the loop at the top.

Nakasha's hair was awash with deep crimson, like blood. Her demon eye blazed a fiery red, promising death and destruction. She cocked her head with a pointed smirk and flipped the kunai around, falling into a ready position. "That it?"

"Impudent wretch!"

"And this is a no-holds-barred final, right, Genma?" She tossed a look the man's way.

"Yeah."

"Right then." She turned back to her opponent. "Kiddie gloves come off."

He scoffed, but it was the wrong move. She was before him in an instant, smashing his face against the rock wall. She dropped, swiping his legs out from beneath him, hooking a small wire onto his ankle. She leapt back with a series of impressive flips to halfway across the arena. She gave the tags on them a nice flick and fell back again, letting the explosions rock the area.

"That it?" The mockery from the man did nothing to her, but her impassiveness made him twitch. Damn the Hokage for giving her that eye.

"Not even close." She rammed her hands together with the force of her handsigns and slammed her palm into the ground. "Earth Style: Fang Pursuit Jutsu."

"Your daddy's doggies?" He laughed, unhooking the wire. "Pathetic."

"Lethal." She countered. She cocked her hip with a grin. "Go get 'em, Pakkun."

"On it, Boss." With that, the dogs raced across the uneven earth, snapping and biting him. Out of the ground behind him, Nakasha appeared, her foot sending him face-first into the ground.

The ninken vanished again, leaving their mistress the opening she needed. "Shuriken Shadow Clone!"

Thousands of shuriken embedded themselves in his flesh and pinned him to the ground.

{|}

"Hokage-sama?"

"Stop calling me that." Naruto said softly to the ANBU behind him. "What did you find?"

"The man who rigged it. He talked."

"Can I allow Nakasha to kill Sevranoso?"

"I believe you can. What they intended to do with her is unforgivable."

"Thank you, Crow."

"As ever, Naruto-san."

{|}

She landed back a few feet, panting. She didn't have the chakra to keep up with the ninjutsu she was using. Kurama rumbled in the back of her mind.

_**I'll give you the chakra for Raikiri. Kill the bastard.**_

_I can't. Murder is illegal._

_**Self-defense. Naruto knows.**_

Her eyes narrowed and red filtered her vision. _Okay._

Her hands were a flurry as she leapt, hand an ominous bubbly red. "Raikiri!" It sparked like a gas to a flame and because a blinding white beacon.

When the audience could see again, her hand was elbow deep in his chest. It seemed like she'd avoided lethal spots, but she had most certainly paralyzed him. There was no two ways about it.

Slowly, as if coming to her senses, she pulled her arm out of his chest, hair turning back from red to white once again. Sevranoso's blood lingered in the silver-white strands, dying the ends crimson. She straightened and looked back at Moko, who was staring in stunned shock.

"Don't you ever come near me again! If you try to force me back into that house, I'll kill anyone who touches me and anyone who decides it's okay to rape the other women in there too! You want me to know my place? I'll show it to you!"

She panted, stumbling off the much larger body beneath her. She looked up to the Hokage's stand.

{|}

"You knew."

Naruto closed his eyes. "Yeah. I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Shikamaru was aghast. How much did he really not know about the blonde on in the Hokage's chair?

"It wouldn't have worked otherwise. Besides, it was all Kurama's doing, not mine." He stood, walking out into the sight of the villagers. "Congratulations, Nakasha Hatake, on being this year's ultimate victor in the Chunin Exams."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She pulled her exhausted limbs tight to her body and bowed, missing Naruto's cringe.

"That concludes the Chunin Exams for this year. Audience and participant Genin, you are dismissed."

"Outrageous!" Moko shrieked, jumping to his feet. "She nearly killed him! She can't continue on like this!"

"Meet me in my office in a half hour. If you lay a hand on her before I resolve this issue, I will charge you with assault." Naruto was stern and cold, unflinching in the judgement and quick to leave, disallowing any further argument.

{|}

It was Lee and Shikamaru who met Nakasha in the changeroom. She collapsed in their arms, chakra channels weakened from overextension.

"Hey guys. I didn't mean to Raikiri him. Kurama made it sound like a good idea, so . . ."

"Don't apologize." Shikamaru stroked her hair. "Don't ever apologize."

"Okay." She relaxed into Lee's arms, giggling when Akamaru's concerned nosesnudged her. She pet him back weakly, trying to soothe him. "It's okay buddy. I'm fine, see?"

"We should get some food into her." Choji murmured in concern.

"No. At least, not yet." Nakasha objected. "Naruto needs to see me. That's what he said."

Hinata knelt before her, taking out a small pouch. "At least have some soldier pills. You're dead on your feet."

"Okay." She took the small leather bag and threw back one of the pills in a smooth motion that didn't seem to move the mask from her face. "Could someone help me walk to the Hokage's mansion? My legs still feel like mush."

"I will take you." Lee replied immediately.

"I'm coming too." Shikamaru said, smiling gently at her.

"I need to have a word with Naruto." Sasuke said distantly, hand shifting to his sword without his notice.

Nakasha shrugged, heaving herself to her feet. Kiba managed to slip her another sweet and it disappeared inside her sleeve. She slipped him a subtle wink and let Lee take hold of her hand. "Whatever. I'll see you guys later at the victory dinner."

Ino laughed. "Of course, babydoll."

{|}

"Why did you decide to come, Sasuke-san?" Nakasha questioned quietly. Lee and Shikamaru beside her were deep in a conversation that she believed involved dismembering Moko. She could never be sure when it came to her sensei.

"I didn't know him as well as Naruto or Sakura, but Kakashi was my sensei and a man of trials. He and I walked much the same path. I'll be damned if you follow too."

"In that case, thank you." She rested her head against his bicep. "I appreciate it. Could I have more of that sword training, after I recover?"

He gave her a quizzical look. "Sure, I suppose. Why? Normal ninja don't use a blade."

"I'm going into ANBU."

This got the attention of the other two, who slowly turned to stare, one in shock, the other in horror.

"What?"

At that moment, Naruto opened the door. He looked darkly serious, something very odd for his normally bright face. It made him even scarier. "You can come in now."

Slowly, the four of them entered. Moko was sitting on a chair, glaring venomously at the Hokage.

"You'll never pull this off." The man spat. "I won't let you. The Council-"

"The Council doesn't make the decisions." Naruto snapped, a dark flare of chakra making the nin still. Naruto's red eyes, slit pupils narrowed menacingly, flared bright with the power of his anger. "I do. And you'd do well to remember that."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm promising." He hissed. Outside, the sky darkened and lightning cracked.

"Calm down." Shikamaru whispered, taking Nakasha's hand. He knew she was trying to suppress it, but her instinct told her to throw up her Thunder Goddess and cower. Inside her mind, she could hear Kurama rise in anger. However, the soothing press of concern also lingered.

_I will protect you._ Kurama rumbled. _Raise the hitai-ite. Don't be afraid. I'll help you._

She did as she was told, letting the warm rush of fiery chakra lend a reddish-orange haze to her vision. Her senses clouded and she reached down to the seal on her stomach, opening the lock. Her vision went black.


	14. Both A Kit And A Pup

It didn't feel like too much time later that Kurama stopped his growling, when it had almost been a full day.

_"It's time for you to wake, little one."_ The beast rumbled.

She'd been sleeping against the warm, soft fur of his breast, breathing along with him. He nosed her, even letting a little of his tongue out to try and lick her awake. He really didn't want to wake her up harshly. She was just so small, this pup, and he felt terrible for her. Losing her sire, not wanted by the rest of the pack . . . It could not have been a pleasant experience.

Perhaps now she would leave the seal open permanently. There was no other way for him to protect her like this. If he could have, he would have brought her here every time she slept, had it been possible. However, having her surrender her care to him was much more profound and he found that he preferred it this way. She may have been the wolf Hatake's pup, but right now, she was also his kit.

_"Wake, pup."_ He purred, gently shifting to rock her awake.

Slowly, her awareness returned. "Kurama? Where am I?"

"You released the seal, which allows Kurama into your body."

She looked over at Naruto from the comforting safety of the beast's chest. "Is that why you're here?"

"Yeah." He smiled and knelt beside her. "But we both need you to wake up now, okay? Right now, you're technically braindead."

She blinked owlishly. "What?"

"Your body is functioning on sleep autopilot, but your mind is here. There is no brain activity on the scanners. We need you to get up now and return to your body."

"Oh. Okay." She languidly sat up, unhurriedly pushing herself to a stand. "How do I do that?"

_"I will lead you back, pup."_ Kurama assured, standing. He lowered his muzzle to her level and she gently tapped her fist against his dark nose.

"Okay."

{|}

Shikamaru was the first one by her side when her eyes opened.

"Shikamaru-sensei?"

Unable to express himself verbally, the Nara crushed the Hatake in a desperate hug. "Don't ever do that again."

"Oh. Okay." She hugged him back, yawning into his shoulder. "Well, my chakra's recovered."

Lee loosed a breathless laugh, kissing her forehead. "Sometimes, you are too much like Kakashi for your own good."

"Where's Naruto?"

"Sleeping." Shikamaru smiled. "He hasn't left your side."

Her brow furrowed and she looked behind herself. Naruto lay partially underneath her, his body muted with sleep.

"What happened to him?"

"He was awake the whole time you were asleep. A couple of minutes ago, he said you'd wake up and he just kinda crashed. Don't blame the guy. It's been four days."

"Really?" She bolted upright, adjusting her sleep-mussed mask. "They announced the winner and I wasn't there for it?"

"Naruto has not been there to do it, so there have been no announced results."

"I see." She rubbed her eyes, feeling the chakra jump out and caress her skin. She smiled at the small comfort. "Okay. I need to get up and get clean. Then I'm going to see the rest of my team. Do you know if Naruto inducted me into ANBU?"

"He did it the second day." Shikamaru shifted out of the way, allowing her to see Tenzou leaning against the doorframe. There was a bittersweet smile on his face. "As much as I don't want you there, I'm happy you're with us. It sucked not being able to help you."

One moment, the young Hatake looked like she'd seen a ghost and the next, she was over there, arms wrapped firmly around his waist. "I'm so happy you're here! It's been so long since I've seen you! Even before Dad died, you didn't come around alot. So I'm on your squad?"

He chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Yup, kiddo. You're rolling with us now."

"Sweet! No offence, Shikamaru-sensei." She looked sheepishly back over at him. The Nara chuckled.

"No offense taken. I'll take her home, Tenzou. Can she take today to say goodbye to our team?"

"She doesn't officially start until a week after she makes Chunin, so take all the time you want." Tenzou kissed the crown of her head. "I have to go back to the team anyway and sort out a new routine now that you'll be there."

"Alright." She grinned, crushing his waist for a moment before darting out the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Shikamaru cried after her in dismay.

"To tell the team and get ready!

"You can't leave yet! Sakura will have my head if you're not here to get looked at!"

He got no response. With a sigh, he collapsed back into the chair he'd claimed during her four-day nap.

"Was that Nakasha I just saw racing down the hall?"

When Sakura entered the room, it was empty. Even the unconscious Naruto was gone. She raised an eyebrow at the tell-tale marks of wood sliding against wood on the windowsill.


	15. Living In Delirium

"Guys! Guys!"

Taio turned to the voice of his female teammate and nudged Daimo to do the same. "Nakasha? What are you doing up? We heard you were braindead."

She came to a stop, waving off the last comment before jumping up and down. "I'm getting transferred into ANBU!"

"Wow, really?" Taio laughed and hugged her. "That's great! When do you start?"

"After the Chunin Exam announcement. Then I join up with Tenzou again!"

"You're on Tenzou's team? That's awesome!"

"Who's Tenzou?"

Both of the squealing Genin looked at their other, larger teammate. He was scowling something fierce and a look of death was tainting his youthful face.

"Tenzou was my dad's second-in-command in ANBU. They were also long-time friends. He's my godfather."

"Jeez, you're acting like a jealous husband or something." Taio snorted.

"You got something to say?" Daimo snarled.

"Daimo, what's up with you?" Nakasha asked, raising an eyebrow. Her feral eye gleamed bright red, flickering with borrowed power. Another thing she had from someone else. His vision hazed crimson.

"Why is it so hard for you to submit to me, huh? Why do you find the task so difficult? Is there something wrong with me? Why is it that I'm always the last to know about anything you do? You should be telling me first! You belong to me!"

Taio blinked blankly at him. "You need help."

"You need to mind your own business! She wouldn't submit in my uncle's household and she ran when my uncle gave her to me. What did I do?"

Something clicked inside of Nakasha and she narrowed her eyes. "Your uncle? You knew I was in there?!"

"Of course I did! You were given to me!"

"I'm not property." Her voice had dropped to a low pitch, but her rage was palpable. "I don't belong to anyone. I never will. I'm not an object to be tossed around whenever you feel like it. I'm a person who makes my own choices and goes my own way. I don't know what kind of sick and twisted fantasy worlds you've been living in, but take me out of them. I'm going into ANBU within the next two weeks. I don't have a lot of time left with you guys before I'm gone almost always. You need to get your head straight. Once you pull yourself back together and stop this nonsense, we can talk again, as friends. We're ten, Daimo. We shouldn't even be thinking about sex and stuff like that until we're older, when it'll feel right. Not now."

"You've been with everyone else but me." Daimo hissed through clenched teeth. "You'll do anything with anyone else, but not me. How many people, eh, Nakasha? How many people have you been mature for? Taio? Shikamaru-sensei? Don't think I don't know about all the time you spent with him in his house, or the time he spent in yours. Lee-sensei, too, I bet. Probably even Shino and Kiba!"

"You're taking this too far." Taio intervened.

"So you can take her one last time before she goes off into ANBU? I don't think so." Daimo snarled, hand twisting around a kunai. "I get her, and no one else."

He was blindsided by the strongest punch he'd ever felt.

"You need to go." Nakasha said lowly, withdrawing her fist. "And you need to go now."

"So you can be with your fuck buddy? I don't think so. I won't let you get away with this, either. How do you plan on making this up to me?"

She snorted. "I don't owe you shit."

"Fine then." Daimo growled, wiping the blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand. "If you won't give me what I want, I'll take what you do."

His fingers spun and another kunai twirled into existence in his palm. His eyes darted and he launched himself at Taio, who dropped into the ground.

"Daimo! What the hell?!" The younger male nin cried out in alarm.

"If she wants you so badly, I'll kill you! Then I'll kill Shikamaru-sensei, too! She won't have anyone left but me!"

Hands wrapped around his wrists and he found himself on his back. "Not if you were the last boy on Earth."

"You're such a whore!" He jumped back up onto his feet, fire extending from his hand and lacing over the blade. He jumped over her, rushing Taio, who stumbled to recover from his planted explosive tag.

"Stop!"

"Not until you're mine! And if he stands in the way, if anyone stands in the way, I'll cut them down too!"

"Daimo!"

{|}

Taio watched his life flicker before his eyes. He saw his mother and father smiling at him when he graduated the Academy. He saw Shikamaru grin at him for the first time and seeing Nakasha's face, her bright smile. He remembered seeing her and Kakashi out eating ramen with the Hokage. He thought back to all the training he'd done with the much younger girl. Now that he had time to assess his own life, he saw all the clues now: all the times Daimo had let himself slip. He should have known sooner. Maybe then, he wouldn't be in this situation, facing his own death by one of the teammates he was supposed to trust.

"Daimo, stop!"

He didn't turn to look, because he didn't want to miss seeing his killer, but he knew Shikamaru-sensei's voice anywhere. Good. Someone else would see what happens. He didn't want Nakasha to be alone here and be unable to do anything about it.

"Chidori!"

The fire flickered and died on Daimo's kunai and he halted in his attack, taking a shuddering breath and looking down at the lightning-lit palm extruding through his chest. The familiar hand froze for a moment before slipping back out, leaving a gaping hole in their comrade's chest.

The boy fell, landing heavily on his knees and falling to the side. Nakasha stood behind him, hitai-ite lifted fully, Kurama's Eye radiating power and inciting fear.

"I had to do it." She whispered, her white hair turned crimson, bubbly red chakra popping on her skin. "He was going to kill you. I can't let my friends die. I can't lose them. I won't . . ."

{|}

Shikamaru dashed to Taio's side, pulling the boy into his arms. Lee, who had been following the Nara to speak more with the girl, caught the Hatake as she collapsed, muttering incoherently about Daimo being crazy and that he wasn't like Rin at all.

"Why does all this shit happen after Kakashi dies?!" Shikamaru hissed.

"It is happening because he died." Lee replied, hoisting the girl into his arms. "I will take her to Kakashi's gravestone."

"What? Why? She needs to go back to the hospital."

Lee shook his head. "I believe that she needs time with her father. The living cannot help her."

{|}

_"I'm not dying this time."_

_Kakashi looked up at his daughter, still on the branch he said he's remain on._

_"This time?"_

_"Last time I didn't want to live. I need to live now."_

_He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that, baby?"_

_"I'm going into ANBU soon. I need to be there."_

_"You're going into ANBU? So young?" Worry was in his voice, but she had to ignore it. She had an objective, and she needed to make it there._

_"Naruto wants to keep an eye on me. There's no better place than ANBU for that. I want to go there. No one can get me there."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I killed Daimo."_

_He blinked, processing what she told him. "He's dead? Are you sure?"_

_"I put my Chidri through his chest."_

_Her father looked down. "What happened?"_

_"He was going to kill Taio after accusing me of sleeping around with everybody and cheating on him."_

_"I thought you didn't like him."_

_"I don't. At least, not romantically."_

_His brows furrowed and he frowned. "Then why . . . ?"_

_"Your guess is as good as mine."_

_He slumped back against the tree, just staring at the woman his ten year old had become. It was not too long ago that she was with him as a child, heartbroken in his arms. Now, she stood apart from him, ready to leave. She was stepping into maturity in a way much harsher than normal shinobi, much harder than he had. However, she was not there yet. ANBU would make her a woman, one way or the other, but she was still here with him, still looking to know that what she'd done, so alike to him, wasn't wrong. She needed to know that she didn't need to carry his burdens._

_"I don't want you in ANBU."_

_"I know you wouldn't. You'd rather I stay with Shikamaru and Taio for a while longer, until I'm sixteen. If I'm honest, I'm afraid of what I'm going to have to do, what I'm going to have to face. My heart doesn't lead me there. I just don't have the time."_

_"Don't have the time?"_

_"I can't wait anymore for bad things to happen to me. I need a place to be, a structure to hide in. There is nowhere left for me to go. If I'm in ANBU, no one can take me, no one can touch me. I don't have to keep looking for loopholes."_

_He knew why Naruto did it. He was keeping her in a vault, hidden away from Konoha. Naruto knew she could handle the violence, the carnage, the blood. She could handle a ninja's life and their burdens. What she couldn't deal with was the people she was meant to protect try and hurt her. In ANBU, she wouldn't have those problems._

_He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Do you know your teammates in ANBU?"_

_At this, she brightened and more of her disappearing childhood returned to her face. "Yes! Naruto-san put me under Unky Tenzou. He took your place as captain, I've been told."_

_"Anita and Guy still in there?"_

_"Yup. That's what Tenzou said, anyway. They're part of the reason I want to go back. I know they will take care of me. Well, not hurt me, anyway."_

_He was pained that she had come to think of people like that. Whether or not they would hurt her, first and foremost. She wasn't looking to live life, she was looking to survive it. He didn't want her to live this way, but if he said anything, she would do exactly as he said and then wind up in trouble. He had to hope that she would find someone to be the sun to her moon._

_"Always a bright side, right?"_

_She grinned. "Always."_

_He smiled. "It's a ninja's way to protect the innocent and take out the threats, right?"_

_She paused, thinking. "Yeah . . . It is, isn't it?"_

_"That is the objective of the ninja." He smiled at her again, watching as the guilt shadowing her face evaporated. "No matter who that threat is."_

_"I see." She grinned at him, stepping back. "I hate to do this, but . . ."_

_"You have to go. I understand. Tell the team I say hello." He waved, relaxing against his trunk again as she disappeared off into the dusky forest, heading back towards the sun with only childish glee as her goodbye. "Don't return so soon this time, okay?"_

{|}

Lee was stroking her hair when she blinked awake, back in the real world. Cool grass caressed her skin and gentle, warm winds smoothed her clothes. The rough calluses on his hand scraped against her scalp, but the pain was soothing. It was a good way to know that she was alive. It was all she needed.

"Shikamaru-sensei?"

"I told him that you needed time with Kakashi." Lee explained simply. "He is taking care of Taio and Daimo. Do not worry about that now."

"How long was I out?"

He looked up to the sky. "Maybe an hour."

"Was I right, Lee-san?"

"I cannot say." He looked down. "I have never had to kill someone close to me, someone from the village. All I know is that it was either Daimo or Taio who would be in the morgue now. One would have died."

"Dad said to protect. That's a ninja's reason for existence."

"Kakashi-sensei was a wise man." Lee pulled her up into his lap, cradling her head in the crook of his shoulder. "Your life seems a lot like his. Very cruel."

She hummed in agreement, eyes tracing the name of her father across the stone.

"I know you need assurance that what you did was correct, and it saddens me to know that I cannot tell you that. You will have to decide that for yourself. It was one or the other. I think you have to think about which one you would rather have by your side still. Even if you find it to be Daimo, you must also realize that the past remains fixed in its place. You have the ability to keep moving. Are you going to?"

"I'm joining ANBU and I'm going to keep my teammates alive. Just like Dad did. Even if I have to meet the same fate."

"I do not want you to speak like that." He said sharply, drawing her attention. "Kakashi-sensei spent his whole life trying to find the best way to die. It was his wish. That changed once he got you. He no longer wanted to die. It was only fate's way to have him die once he had something to live for. You need to live, Nakasha. Not survive."

She laughed lowly, nuzzling into his flak jacket. "I wouldn't be here now if I didn't have something to live for."

He kissed her head, rising from his position on the ground and setting her back on her feet. "We will have to meet Naruto because this is a domestic issue. I will be with you the whole time. Then you can go home."

"Alright." She squared her shoulders and took a fortifying breath. "Let's do this."


End file.
